New England Cioppino Recipes

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the anchovies, bay leaf and red pepper flakes and cook until the anchovies begin to dissolve, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, onions and some salt and pepper. Saute until the onions are translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and parsley and use a wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes into bite-size pieces. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to blend the flavors.
• Season the fish fillets and scallops with salt and pepper. Raise the heat under the skillet to medium. Add the mussels and clams and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Add the fish, shrimp and scallops and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook until the seafood is cooked and the shellfish are open, an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and serve immediately.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, shallots, and salt and saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste. Add tomatoes with their juices, wine, fish stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
• Add the clams and mussels to the cooking liquid. Cover and cook until the clams and mussels begin to open, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and fish. Simmer gently until the fish and shrimp are just cooked through, and the clams are completely open, stirring gently, about 5 minutes longer (discard any clams and mussels that do not open). Season the soup, to taste, with more salt and red pepper flakes.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large (12-inch) heavy pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium heat. Add the fennel and onion and saute for 10 minutes, until tender. Stir in the garlic, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, stock, wine, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. The stock will be highly seasoned.
• Add the seafood in the following order: first the cod, then the shrimp, scallops, and finally the mussels. Do not stir! Bring to a simmer, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until all the seafood is cooked and the mussels are open. Stir in the Pernod, being careful not to break up the fish; cover and set aside for 3 minutes for the flavors to blend. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Ladle into large shallow bowls, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot with Garlic Toasts.
• Warm the oil in a medium pot set over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add 1 1/2 quarts water, the wine, tomato paste, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for one hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing on the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. If not, add enough water or white wine to make 1 quart.
• Cool completely, transfer to containers, and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Slice the baguette diagonally in 1/4-inch-thick slices. Depending on the size of the baguette, you should get 20 to 25 slices.
• Lay the slices in one layer on a sheet pan, brush each with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until browned and crisp. As soon as they're cool enough to handle, rub the top of the toasts with a cut side of the garlic. Serve at room temperature.

RICK MOONEN'S CIOPPINO

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat the olive oil until it is smoking. Add the onions, peppers and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, stirring, for five minutes.
• Stir in the basil, one teaspoon of the oregano, one teaspoon of the thyme, half of the parsley stems and the garlic. Cook for one minute. Add the 12-ounce can of tomatoes with the juice and bring to the boil. Add the stock, wine and clam juice, bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook for 20 minutes. Strain the broth through a fine sieve, pressing on the vegetables to extract all the flavor. Set aside the broth and discard the vegetables.
• In a food processor, place the fish trimmings and pulse the machine on and off until the fish has the consistency of ground beef. Remove the fish to a large bowl.
• Place the onion, celery, leek, pepper and tomatoes in the food processor and pulse on and off until ground. Mix this with the ground fish. With a whisk, whip in the remaining oregano and thyme, the remaining parsley stems, the bay leaves, peppercorns and half the egg whites, until incorporated.
• In another bowl, whip the remaining egg whites until they form a soft peak. Fold them into the fish and vegetable mixture. Transfer to a large, tall pot.
• In another pot, bring the fish broth to a rolling boil. Ladle some of the hot fish broth into the pot containing the fish, vegetable and egg-white mixture, whisking with each addition.
• When you have about one-third of the hot liquid incorporated, pour the rest in at once. Whip the mixture well with a whisk.
• Place the pot over high heat. As the mixture heats up, the egg white mixture on the top will become more solid, forming a raft. When this happens, reduce the heat to low. Using a ladle, push a hole through the center of the raft. This will allow you to see the mixture as it cooks. Do not allow the mixture to boil; if it does, it will not become clear. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes. Ladle out the consomme through the hole and strain through a wet towel. Discard the raft. Once the consomme has cooled, it can be refrigerated for one day or frozen for up to one month.
• In a clean pot, bring the clarified consomme to the boil.
• Place the fish pieces, the shellfish and the peppers in a pot. Pour the boiling consomme over the fish. Simmer until the clams and mussels open up, about four to five minutes after it returns to the simmer.
• Divide into hot soup bowls. Garnish with tomatoes and parsley.

CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Cook garlic, onions, bay leaf, oregano, and red pepper flakes with salt and pepper in oil in an 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in bell pepper and tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by about half, 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, clam juice, and broth and simmer, covered, 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• While stew is simmering, hack crab leg through shell into 2- to 3-inch pieces with a large heavy knife. Add crab pieces and clams to stew and simmer, covered, until clams just open, 5 to 10 minutes, checking every minute after 5 minutes and transferring opened clams to a bowl with tongs or a slotted spoon. (Discard any unopened clams after 10 minutes.) Lightly season fish fillets, shrimp, and scallops with salt and add to stew, then simmer, covered, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then return clams to pot and gently stir in parsley and basil.
• Serve cioppino immediately in large soup bowls.

FISHERMAN'S WHARF CIOPPINO

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion and bell pepper in hot oil until tender, about 5 minutes; add garlic and continue to saute until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large stockpot.
• Stir tomatoes, chicken broth, white wine, tomato paste, parsley, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and black pepper with the onion mixture in the stockpot; bring to a boil, cover the pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatoes are softened, about 15 minutes.
• Stir shrimp and cod chunks into the tomato mixture. Arrange clams and mussels in the liquid so they are partially submerged. Cover pot again and continue cooking until the clams and mussels open, 7 to 10 minutes.